01-01-2017, 11:14 AM
I have a 10.8V Makita Li-ion drill and driver set. I have received nearly 10 years of good service from the set; have built plenty of things including a pergola and garden arbor with this set. I like it for its ability to deliver sufficient power in a lightweight set.
This past summer I finally ordered up new batteries as the originals were just not holding a charge any longer. The new batteries seemed to work well. I have about 5 recharge cycles on them.
Yesterday while working on an indoor project, I was using the drill when the installed battery ran out of charge after driving three drywall screws. I thought it was odd since I thought the battery should have been mostly charged. But, it had been a month or so since I used the drill; when I pulled the battery out of the drill, I smelled the smell of having let out the "magic smoke", but it was coming out of the battery, not from the drill. I loaded a fresh battery, drove exactly one screw when it died. That battery, too, has the electric smell to it. Neither battery felt hot upon removal from the drill.
Neither of these batteries will take a charge now. The charger gives an alternating red and green light which indicates that it cannot charge these two batteries.
I'm ready to chalk one battery failure up to a bad unit. However, two bad batteries in the same session has me suspicious of the drill itself. Is it possible for a drill to ruin the batteries electrically?
This past summer I finally ordered up new batteries as the originals were just not holding a charge any longer. The new batteries seemed to work well. I have about 5 recharge cycles on them.
Yesterday while working on an indoor project, I was using the drill when the installed battery ran out of charge after driving three drywall screws. I thought it was odd since I thought the battery should have been mostly charged. But, it had been a month or so since I used the drill; when I pulled the battery out of the drill, I smelled the smell of having let out the "magic smoke", but it was coming out of the battery, not from the drill. I loaded a fresh battery, drove exactly one screw when it died. That battery, too, has the electric smell to it. Neither battery felt hot upon removal from the drill.
Neither of these batteries will take a charge now. The charger gives an alternating red and green light which indicates that it cannot charge these two batteries.
I'm ready to chalk one battery failure up to a bad unit. However, two bad batteries in the same session has me suspicious of the drill itself. Is it possible for a drill to ruin the batteries electrically?